This is a journal of my entry into @htliao 模擬投資比賽 Demo account investment challenge on the platform "Plus500".
The link to the context is below
The post is written in chinese, so I have decided to write my journal in English so that people who don't understand chinese can also understand a bit of what the contest is about.
https://steemit.com/cn/@htliao/5lt1lk#@htliao/re-htliao-5lt1lk-20170919t013432646z
Just a disclaimer, I am only a beginner in this topic and hence the below are not financial advice and is only my own opinion. Always perform your own due diligence and only risk money that you can afford to lose.
Journal of Demo Account Investment - Day 1
As I have mentioned above, I am a complete beginner in cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency trading.
Hence, I thought it was a great opportunity to learn something by participating in the Demo Account Challenge.
The Platform that @htliao suggested was Plus500
It was a very new platform for me, so there was a lot that I had to learn
This is what the platform looks like if you open it on a laptop or a desktop.
You can also use the app on your cellphone
Overview of the Interface
- Yellow Square: These are the main selection menu, you can look at what to trade, your open positions, your orders etc. Now I am on the Trade Menu
- Red Square: These are the sub selection, in this screen I am planning to trade "Cryptocurrency", and you can see the list of Cryptocurrency that can be traded.
- Orange Arrow: this is the Search Bar, you can search for the item that you want to trade, if you know the name
- Green Square: this is your position, showing your balance, your maintenance margin and your Profit or Loss (P/L) of your open positions.
What is the plan
As a complete newbie, I don't really have any strategy in mind, and I know very little about cryptocurrency in general.
The cryptocurrency market is very volatile and risky, and you should perform your due diligence before you trade with your real money and only risk what you can afford to lose. If you are not confident, try it out in a demo account and don't risk your real hard earned money.
I know that Bitcoin (BTC) has fell from a all time high of close to $5K to between $3K and $4K, and I am bullish in cryptocurrency, hence I decided to long/buy BTC. Besides from that, there is no particular strategy or rationale to my decision.
First Cryptocurrency Trade
Even though this is a Demo account, I did not long/buy a large position in BTC. I know in real life I would not be able to make such a large trade, hence for testing I tried out the lowest position possible, which is a position of 0.25 BTC
Bear in mind that these are leveraged trades, in this case the leverage is 1:30
The screenshot was taken right after my trade. Notice that I am making a loss already, this is because of the buy sell spread, this is what the provider of the platform makes from you. And the buy sell spread differs for different types of trades,
it is wider for cryptocurrency than other currency pairs in general.
A While later
I was lucky, could be "beginner's luck' because BTC increased after I bought it. I am now in a slight profit
Bear in mind that it could have gone either way, so don't see this as a quick way to earn money unless you know what you are doing.
With Leveraged trades, you don't own the asset in this case, BTC, so you may actually lose more than the capital you put in, which is why it is very risky and I was reluctant to trade. You have to know what you are doing and only risk what you can afford to lose.
What now?
Now that I am in the green, I have 2 options
- Option 1: Close the trade, and realize the profits.
- Option 2: Keep the trade, if I think it is going to increase more, but risk that BTC will go down, and if the trade goes overnight, I will need to pay a premium which is also relatively high compared to other currency pair trades.
I have decided to keep the trade on for now.
Once I am more comfortable and learn more, I may enter more trades and trade with larger amounts. </CENTER
@htliao also created another post regarding the progress of all the participants, do look at it if you are interested.
https://steemit.com/cn/@htliao/5ngxkf
There were some successful participants, and I look forward to learning from them and a bit more about trading.
If you like this post, please upvote, resteem, follow and comment.
Thanks for your time and have a great day!
It looks interesting but the truth did not understand much that treats the thing ... explain me a bit please?
Thanks @yanes94. It is a contest based on trading cryptocurreny on a demo account. Basically, the person who has the greatest return will win the contest. I will probably be creating another post explaining this in more detail. Have a great day!